Venezuela to regulate social media,to prevent Rwanda’s case in 1994

The “national constituent assembly” (ANC), a lawmaking body created by Nicolás Maduro, confirmed that it would regulate the messages private companies post on social media to combat an alleged “psychological war” occurring against socialism.

The president of the ANC, former foreign minister Delcy Rodríguez, said on television that the move was necessary to prevent “a repetition of what happened to Rwanda in Venezuela,” referring to the 1994 genocide against Tutsis spurred on in part by radio stations urging Hutu Rwandans to kill their neighbors.

Maduro’s history of anti-Semitic statements did not come up during Rodríguez’s announcement Monday. Instead, the head of the ANC announced that the body would “regulate companies” using social media “because Venezuela in the past years has been the victim of a laboratory of psychological war” intended to trigger a “fratricide.”

“We will not allow for the repetition of what happened to Rwanda in Venezuela, when over one million lost their lives thanks to hate messages on local radio” she asserted (breitbart.com)

Limiting social media usage by corporations “will avoid the proliferation of messages calling to hate, intolerance, and war,” Rodríguez claimed, according to state media.

Maduro created the ANC this summer to replace the democratically-elected, opposition-held National Assembly, the legitimate legislative body of the nation. There is no legal basis for the creation of the ANC and the July 30 election for ANC positions featured only chavista candidates, including Maduro’s wife Cilia Flores and son Nicolás Maduro Moros.